In the town of Bladensburg, there stood a little brick church, with a single, fading white tower. Across the street stood another brick building, only this one stood unidentifiable and underfunded. This building was the church’s Catholic school, St. Jerome’s, for grades kindergarten through eighth. At the time, the building had patches of vines surrounding it, and wild bushes and grass. The only thing attempting to keep them in was the cement that lay everywhere else. The only thing giving an indication to what the building was, was a single cement sign stating the name of the school, but it was so filled with grime, it proved illegible. To one side of the school stood a smaller building and the remains of a once thriving vegetable garden; this was home of the nuns who ran the school. These nuns were the kind where you had to be a fool to mess with them. I wouldn’t put it past them to give beatings or cruel punishments to misbehaving children. Yes, these nuns seemed to fit the dreadful atmosphere of the Catholic school, except Sister Daisy. Sister Daisy had to be the only nun there who didn’t take joy in the suffering of children. She used her words and melodic voice to control the class; she was the type of person that was so nice, not a living soul could find it in them to disrespect her. As you might have guessed, she was the school’s kindergarten teacher.

On the other side of the school, there was a cement parking lot guarded by a chain linked fence. After all the children had lunch in the cafeteria/gym, they would all be released into this parking lot, which at best could only hold twenty cars, with a couple of jump ropes, and a football or basketball. All the girls would congregate in one corner to gossip or jump ropes, while the boys would take up the rest of the lot playing one of their favorite games, tackle football. The nuns would take this time to go back to their quarters and maybe enjoy a cup of tea, or read a book- anything they could do to relax and enjoy their break.

A group of three friends, Joseph, Marie, and Robert, were enjoying recess like everyone else. The only difference was they had a plan to make it last longer. At the end of recess, the nun deemed headmistress, Sister Katherine, would blow her ear-piercing silver whistle. At that time all of the children would line up, single filed, for a head count, to make sure everyone was there before heading inside for afternoon lessons. Eighth graders would be in the front of the line, and since Joseph, Marie, and Robert, were eighth graders their new plan was even easier. Each day a bunch of the younger kids would refuse to get in a line to go inside. This distracted most of the nuns, so after you were counted no one could make sure you went inside, and no one would spot you and snitch. Some days, Sister Ruth counted heads, and when she did, the trio believed they wouldn’t even have to bother with getting in line. Sister Ruth was going on ninety-one making her the oldest nun working at the school, so she tended to miscount, and just assume everyone was there.

This day, Joseph, Marie, and Robert, were skipping class, something they’ve always wanted to do. Much to their surprise, they escaped with ease. They rounded the building to the front and snuck into Mr. Redland’s yard to get to a trail that led to the train track. In this part of Bladensburg, there was not any shops or anything of interest, besides the train tracks. They would balance themselves on the rails, talk about the day, and just relax. Whenever they heard the train coming, they would line pennies on the rail and hide behind the nearby growth. After the train would pass, they collected their flattened pennies and marveled at their different designs. The trio waited until about half past one before sneaking back into school, in order to make it inside the school when their religious class started with Sister Katherine, the headmistress. Sister Katherine had to be the meanest nun at St. Jerome’s, for it seemed like every kid had a story about how she had punished them (This being the only reason the trio made sure to be punctual).

However, when Joseph, Marie, and Robert, returned to join their classmates, Sister Katherine was nowhere in sight, and Sister Katherine had a thing for punctuality. At the time the trio thought nothing of it; she was probably punishing someone and had asked Sister Ruth to cover, who never showed up until at least ten minutes after she was supposed to. Little did they know Robert’s little sister, Julie, had seen them escape, and had attempted to follow them, but had been caught by, Sister Katherine. In Sister Katherine’s office, little five-year-old Julie sat, awaiting her punishment.
“Miss Julie, I do believe you have some explaining to do,” Sister Katherine boomed. Julie wasn’t quite sure what to do. On one hand she wanted to tell her the truth. On the other hand, she knew her brother would blow up if she told her she saw them escaping. She decided the best decision was to stay quiet. Headmistress couldn’t make her talk. “Miss Julie, I’m waiting, and I’m not one to be kept waiting,” Sister Katherine said sternly. Julie knew she had to say something.
“I…I,” she stuttered under headmistress’ smoldering glare. The door to her office was thrown open, and in walked Sister Daisy with Robert in tow. “Oh my Lord, Sister Katherine, and Julie there you are! We have been looking for you everywhere! Julie is missing her math test and no one is watching the eighth graders religious class and they are causing such a commotion,” Sister Daisy exclaimed, overdramatically.
“Sister Daisy, this will just have to wait I am in the middle of punishing Miss Julie,” headmistress, stated as if scolding a small child. Just then screams and shouts sounded down the hall, in the eighth graders classroom. “Sister Daisy…” Headmistress started hesitantly, “Can I trust you to punish Miss Julie?”
“Of course, Sister Katherine! Robert why don’t you walk your sister back to her classroom.”
“Yes Sister Daisy,” he politely responded. As the two walked down the hall, Julie was still puzzled as to how she managed to escape the wrath of the dreaded headmistress.
“Robert how did you manage to convince Sister Daisy to come and get me?”
Robert chuckled, “Well it certainly helps being an ‘angel’,” he started, “To be honest I went out into the hallway when Sister Katherine never showed up. I could hear her yelling from down the hall, and when she said your name, I ran to Sister Daisy to ask for her help. She said you were much too young to be punished by Headmistress. But don’t expect me to save you next time,” he chided.
“Next time! There would not have been a first time if it was not for you and your friends escaping,” Julie exclaimed.
“Lying is a sin, my dear sister,” Robert chided again. Julie just rolled her eyes happy to have it over with.